Green With Envy: The Forgotten Ninjago Episode
by NinjaJo
Summary: In Ninjago, the ninjas have nearly always been perfectly content with the powers they have and their place in protecting Ninjago City from danger. But what would happen if they started envying each other's abilities and neglecting their own roles and duties as part of the team? Keep reading to find out!
1. A Good Start to a Good Day

Okay, this story doesn't really fit in anywhere on the Ninjago story line as there are too many plot variables in it. Without the weird plot variables though, these events would ideally take place right before season one episode five, "Can of Worms."

In this story SamuraiX is not yet in existence, and Lloyd has been revealed as the green ninja but has not yet started training. The ninja have already faced all of the five serpentine tribes at least once but before they know that the serpentine are trying to awaken the Great Devourer. All four ninja have already reached their true potentials, Kai reaching his very recently.

And I mean, obviously I don't own Ninjago. Enjoy :)

 **Green With Envy:**

 **The forgotten Ninjago episode**

Chapter One: A good Start To a Good Day

Jay woke up to a pretty good morning. He could tell that it was already going to be a great day because he got to sleep in. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "Don't you just love the smell of late morning after a good night's sleep?" A thump rang out and Kai moaned. "How about the smell of wood in your face first thing in the morning?" He shot back, rubbing his head from where he had hit it on the top bunk. Cole's head popped down from the top of the adjacent bunk. "Oh yeah, I love that smell!"

There was a pause and everyone looked at Kai. Jay flash backed to yesterday when Kai had snuck into Cole's weights in the training room and tried to lift every single one of the earth ninja's weights all at once. The combined weight had been too much and Kai ended up crashing through the wooden floor during his attempt, leaving Cole to dig him out of the splintery mess.

"Uh yeah, Kai. Remind me again why you tried to lift Cole's weights? I was the one who had to clean up the mess, you know." Jay added in a slightly louder voice.

"I just wanted to see if I was as strong as the green ni—… I mean, uh, I was trying to get them out so I could, uh, clean them… No, actually I was um—"

"Kai, you tried to lift twice as much weight as I can. Did you forget that I have super strength? I mean, come on. You cracked almost the entire dojo floor in half."

Cole jumped down from the bunk and landed hard on the wooden floor, emphasizing his point. Kai slowly inched out, still rubbing his sore spot. Jay chuckled. "Kai, you crack me up sometimes... Ha! Get it? 'Crack' me up?" Jay burst out laughing at his own joke while all the other ninjas shook their heads. Jay hopped down. "Well I've got a good feeling about today. Oh, good morning, Zane." Zane looked up sleepily. "It's morning already?"

"Race you guys to the dining room?" Jay asked eagerly, posed in a runner's stance.

"Oh yeah! I can't believe I forgot about breakfast!" Cole exclaimed.

In a moment the four ninjas were running through the hallways of Destiny's Bounty.

After a delicious breakfast of hot oatmeal, the four argued about who's turn it was to do the breakfast dishes. In the end, they chose Kai to clean up the oatmeal bowls. Muttering under his breath, he stacked his and the others' bowls into a large pile by the sink. He began to wash the dishes in a smooth manner. Although he was a ninja he knew how to wash dishes well. Halfway through, the sponge slipped from his hands and landed on the floor. Sighing, he paused his work to pick it back up again. Right before he began to scrape the grimy sludge off of Zane's bowl he noticed something out of the corner of his eye on the table: Sensei Wu's bag!

Curious, Kai looked left then right and proceeded to tiptoe to the bag hoping that no one was watching. He noticed that a scroll was sticking out of the side. He opened it up to a familiar scene: two columns of what appeared to be chicken scratch of some ancient language that only Zane could read, and a picture of the four ninja and another green ninja above them. But Kai didn't need Zane to read the writing at the moment. He knew exactly what it said. In fact, he knew the words so well he could practically recite them in his sleep: _One ninja will rise above the others and become the green ninja; the ninja destined to defeat the dark lord._

Kai smiled wearily. He wasn't the green ninja. He knew he wasn't. Lloyd was. And it was his job to protect the chosen one. Yet he couldn't help but feel like someone had punched him in the gut. He should have been the green ninja; Lloyd knew nothing about being a ninja. His whole life had been spent running away and opening up the tombs of the serpentine which now the real ninja had to deal with. Why Lloyd? Why all those legendary powers to someone who had no idea how to use them? Kai let the scroll droop in his hands, dwelling upon this distressing thought. Quickly he shook his head and restored the scroll to its upright position. He shouldn't be thinking these thoughts. Kai sighed, then almost dropped the scroll when Sensei Wu came bumbling in. Quick as a flash, Kai stuffed the scroll awkwardly back into the sack and returned to the sink. He proceeded to pretend like he had been washing dishes the whole time. When Wu looked up, Kai smiled and waved, knowing that his charade of "casualness" would never penetrate Sensei's wall of wisdom and observation.

Sensei Wu peered at the red ninja for a long, silent moment then noticed his bag on the table.

"Ah, there it is. I believe I left my bag in the kitchen. I shouldn't have been so careless to leave my scrolls of prophecy where anyone could sneak in and read them."

"Yeaah," Kai said, overly cheerfully, "Wouldn't want that to happen!"

Wu walked out, and Kai wiped away some perspiration from his forehead. That was close!

A while later the four ninjas emerged fully dressed for the mission ahead. As usual, Nya was manning the screens in the bridge that displayed maps of Ninjago and Wu was pacing the floor. At the sound of their steps, Sensei turned to face them. He held out his staff.

"I see four, but where is Lloyd?"

The ninja froze. "Oh yeah, that's right," remarked Jay with a nervous laugh, "I forgot we had the son of Lord Garmadon on our ship."

"Man, that kid can be a handful." Kai said, with a painfully obvious forced laugh.

"But you saw what Sensei did. Lloyd's changed now." Nya said, stepping away from the jumbo computer screen on the wall. "Besides, he's the green ninja. He's on our side." Nya assured her brother, placing her hand on Kai's shoulder. Kai smiled weakly and shuffled off towards the exit in search of Lloyd. As soon as he was gone Jay turned to Cole; "Well, it looks like someone had a rough morning."

"We should have known better. We hadn't seen Lloyd all morning, and Kai is kind of the one in charge of him now. You know, after he reached his true potential, he realized that he was meant to be the protecter of the green ninja, not the actual guy himself."

Jay nodded.

"Yeah, but something still seems a little off to me. Maybe we should go see what's up."

The three ninja that were left ran out of the bridge. Suddenly they heard a loud exclamation coming from downstairs. "Kai!" Zane yelled. They continued on their way downstairs to the dojo room where they found Kai standing completely speechless at the spectacle in front of him. Lloyd had lifted all of Cole's weights at once (which had never been put back after Kai tried to lift them yesterday) and was casually hefting them around as though they were a sack of potatoes. He turned suddenly and saw them. "Woah, hey guys!" He waved, but no one waved back. "What are you all staring at?" The boy turned and looked in the direction they were looking. "Lloyd, do you realize what you're doing?" Cole asked in disbelief. "Uhhh…. holding weights?" Lloyd suggested with a confused smile.

"Lloyd, that's more weight than Jay, Kai, Zane, and even _I_ can lift!"

Jay and Kai both felt a little sting when Cole mentioned their name.

"Oh." Lloyd muttered, now looking at the load in his hands in a new light. "Sensei had asked me to look for his bag earlier, and I was wondering if it was under these weights." He lifted them higher in his hands.

Kai couldn't believe it. With strength like that, he'd… he shuddered, trying to scatter the thoughts but couldn't help them. If he had Lloyd's power…

As if a switch had turned on, Jay noticed Lloyd's arms. And Cole's. And then his own. His own skinny noodles of arms. He suddenly didn't think it was going to be a good day anymore.

Lloyd placed the weight down and walked over. Kai managed to shake himself out of his gawking stare and speak: "Well Sensei now wants you up at the bridge." The five of them walked up the stairs in silence.

"Sensei, you wold not believe what Lloyd accomplished today." Zane began to tell Sensei at the bridge.

"You know how Kai tried to lift all those weights the other day and totally failed at it? Well Lloyd just lifted all of them like he was carrying a feather!"

Jay exclaimed, replaying the scene in his head.

"I didn't _totally_ fail at it." Kai put in.

"Well actually, you did." Zane stepped forward to say. "With all the damage that was done to the dojo floor and seeing that you never actually lifted the weights, I'd say failure was 110% probable."

Kai opened his mouth to say something.

"Sensei, I still don't know how he did it. He hasn't had any training." Cole blurted out.

Sensei walked towards them stroking his beard. He stopped when he reached Lloyd.

"Destiny chose well. The green ninja possesses more power and strength than we think." Lloyd smiled.

"What did I tell you?" Nya piped up from the back. "The green ninja!"

"Does this mean that I can go on the mission today?" Lloyd asked excitedly, giddy from all of the attention. Sensei began to walk back towards the screen.

"Uh, no. You have to stay here with Nya."

Lloyd moaned and sat in a chair in the corner as Nya debriefed the ninja on the day's mission.


	2. Mission Success?

Okay guys, so here's the second chapter. And there will be more coming, so stay tuned! Let me know what you think in the reviews. :)

 **Green With Envy**

 **The Forgotten Ninjago Episode**

Chapter Two: Mission Success?

Wildwood Forest was quiet except for the sound of occasional wildlife and the hum of four vehicles racing across the trail. The four ninja rode on their golden weapon vehicles: Zane on his ice motor bike, Kai on his fiery bike, Cole in his gray-colored car, and Jay in his electric jet zooming overhead. They were communicating through the built-in walkie-talkies.

"I see them up ahead" Cole was saying, his voice slightly muffled through his ninja hood.

"Alright, so remember: stick together and conquer" Jay said, pumping his fist in the air.

"Umm, isn't that normally 'divide and conquer'?" Kai asked.

"Uh, no, Kai. Don't be ridiculous." Jay stated.

"No, I'm very sure that 'divide and conquer' is an expression used when one…"

"Zane!" Jay snorted condescendingly. "Come on dude, don't you know a joke when you hear one?"

Zane frowned from behind the windshield of his ice bike and tried to shake off the stinging he felt.

"Remember their weak spots." Zane remarked, switching the subject. The frozen vehicle jumped over a fallen log and landed hard on the forest foliage.

"Yeah," Cole grunted as he vaulted over the same log in his car. "Fangpyres have an armored back, but their underside is still soft."

"No, that's the Constrictai tribe, Cole." Zane interjected.

"Oh yeah, right." Cole corrected himself. "Constrictai, I knew that."

"The Venomari fight with their teeth and the Hypnobrai hypnotize you with their eyes, so if you cut either of their heads off, you're fine."

"Ewww, that's gross, Jay."

"Haha, I mean just aim for their feet. Or tails. Whatever they're called."

"The point is," Kai interjected, "We know what the serpentine are like; we've battled them before." The fiery vehicle sped ahead of the others and quickly approached the Serpentine's secret base in Wildwood forest. The other vehicles sped after Kai.

The four figures stopped at the edge of the clearing, their vehicles shrinking into golden weapons as the ninja flipped out of them. Kai led the way to the top of a boulder where they could have a good view of the wooden serpentine construction. Zane began calculating a plan in his head. They were outnumbered about fifteen to one, but if they managed to sneak past the security guards at the ramparts they could probably… His train of thought was interrupted when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a flash of red. "Kai?" Zane muttered, leaning over to see the fire ninja rushing ahead to the front gates, completely oblivious to the guards stationed there.

"Dude!" Jay hissed, "he probably doesn't realize that there are security guards there." The blue ninja scrambled forward as Kai yelled and charged directly at the gates. Cole sighed and darted towards the gates as well. Zane shook his head. So much for stealth. Guess they would have to improvise.

Soon the ninja had caused quite a ruckus and were in the thick of battle. Everywhere Zane looked he began calculating. Hypnobrai. Activate falcon vision and continue fighting from an aerial view. Constrictai warrior at approximately 34 degrees west, stab quickly and retract shuriken. Chances of victory for him and his friends: 36.7 % chance. Chance of survival: 7.468%. Zane felt his shuriken throwing arm stumble at the disheartening statistic. Immediately, Zane was caught off guard and felt a sharp pain sear through his leg. He yelled and tried to fend off a wincing Fangpyre warrior. Fortunately, the ninja had updated their ninja gi a few days ago with a special fabric that made its wearer immune to venom. However, the fabric did not stop fangs from puncturing the skin.

"Chance of survival: 2.5%!" Zane gasped as serpentine warriors nearly overpowered him.

Suddenly Zane felt the thrashing of snake-like claws and fangs cease and heard a grunting noise as the Hypnobrai, Fangpyre, and Constrictai were cleared from his path. The white ninja took the hand that was offered to him as the red ninja pulled him to his feet. "Zane, what happened?" He heard Kai mutter under his breath. Zane caught his breath "I—I'm sorry. The statistics were—" "Stop thinking about statistics for once! It's distracting you from the task at hand: to be the strongest." Kai sped off. The ice ninja watched him as he ran with a raging scream to mutilate some more snake men. Zane shook his head. That wasn't the mission. It was to retrieve the serpentine staffs for sake keeping, but Kai had complicated their chance of a quiet mission. First Jay, now Kai. What was up with his friends? They seemed… so distracted. They would never hurt him this way. Zane turned to slash a Venomari and back flipped into a Constrictai, knocking him down. And even if they did hurt him, they would always come back later to apologize, he told himself. 100% of the time. What was wrong with them? Zane felt a lull in the fight as a thought occurred to him. What if nothing was wrong with his friends? What if something was wrong with _him_? After all, Jay had pointed out that his sense of humor was sorely lacking, and Kai mentioned that all of his calculating was simply distracting him. _What if?…_ Zane threw both of his shurikens at a Constrictai warrior and let his thoughts drown out the sound of the battle.

Later that evening the four ninja were on their way home with the serpentine staffs. Turned out that Kai's rash-headedness had payed off, for they were able to get to the staffs while the serpentine were confused with all of the chaos. Jay thanked his lucky stars that they never ran into Pythor while there or else things might have looked a lot different. The Anacondrai general and the other tribe leaders were away searching. Though what they were searching for remained a mystery to the group. The way back to Destiny's Bounty remained oddly quiet as the four traveled in their spinjitzu vehicles. Jay couldn't stop thinking about how Cole had lifted six snake warriors at once and threw them down during the battle while _he_ could barely lift _one_. Zane was mulling over all of the times in the past where his calculations and figures had prevented him from being the most efficient nindroid he could be. Kai wondered if he had proved himself in the battle and risen to the challenge. If he had shown to the others that he was the strongest; as strong as the green ninja, in fact.

Cole simply sat confused in his car.

"Gosh, it's so quiet."

No one responded.

"Hey Jay, got any new jokes?"

Silence.

"Um, am I missing something?"

He asked, slightly ticked off.

"Only everything." Zane answered without wavering his eyes. Cole did a double take. Did Zane really just say that?

"I'm just thinking." Jay said quietly.

"About how awesome I was during the fight? I mean, did you guys see how I totally got us those staffs single-handedly?" Kai smirked. He pulled out a pair of his shades and looked in his rear-view mirror.

"You didn't retrieve the staffs single-handedly, Kai. It was a team effort."

Kai ignored Zane and squinted at his reflection. _This should be the face of the green ninja._ He thought to himself.


	3. Deep In Thought

**Green With Envy**

 **The Forgotten Ninjago Episode**

Chapter Three: Deep in Thought

Sensei Wu's face lit up when he saw all of the serpentine staffs safely in the bridge, but his face fell when he saw how scattered all of the ninja were. "I sense that the mission was completed but with unfavorable outcomes," Wu said in his raspy voice.

Kai made a big show of placing the four staffs in the center of the room. Right then Nya and Lloyd walked in. Nya's face cracked into a smile, and Lloyd smirked when he saw the ninja. "We're glad you're back." Nya welcomed them. "How did the mission go?" Lloyd asked. "Well, not too bad if I do say so myself," Kai said while leaning against the Hypnobrai staff. "I mean, I did just get us the four serpentine staffs—"

"Did Lloyd do anything crazy while we were gone?" Jay asked excitedly. "Like, shoot lasers from his eyes or something?" He regarded Lloyd how someone would look at a bomb that might go off at any second. Nya laughed. Jay smiled. He might not be as strong as Cole, but at least he could make Nya laugh, and that made him feel good.

Kai's head jerked up when he realized that no one was paying attention to him. Everyone was looking at Lloyd.

Jay turned when he heard a frustrated gargle of a sound and saw the tip of the fire ninja's spiky hair as he stomped downstairs.

"I'll go check on him." Nya said quickly as she ran down after her brother.

"Are you sure the mission went well?" Lloyd teased as he craned his neck to catch a glimpse of the two downstairs.

"I'm going to go… train." Stuttered Cole as he rushed downstairs. Zane mumbled something about his falcon needing repair and ran upstairs.

Sensei and Lloyd's heads turned to Jay, the only one left in the room. Jay put his hands up in surrender. "Hey! Don't look at me, I didn't do anything!"

* * *

In the dojo, Cole made sure that both of his hands were secured before he lifted up the pole. He strained as the weight kicked in. He could do it. He'd done it before. Cole lifted the weights until his hands were straight above his head then back down again. Working out. He was good at that. You didn't need to be smart to lift weights. You didn't have to know all the weaknesses of the serpentine or what the heck everyone else was thinking about. You only needed—his eyes drifted to the stack of weights on the floor. Cole put the bar down and added more weight to the ends of it. Getting back into position, he made sure that his posture was correct. 570 lbs… this was pushing his limits. He could do it. Sweat broke out on his forehead. He was the strong one of the group. Who said he had to be the smart one? yet apparently now he wasn't even observant or intelligent enough…

Zane was intelligent enough. Zane was really smart; the guy was a walking computer. No one would tease him or point out his mistakes if he were as smart as Zane. With one last exclamation, he managed to lift the weights up over his head and land them back down with a loud thump. The bar bounced slightly on the dojo floor, making the weight lifting chalk on Cole's hands scatter into the air. Cole breathed hard, and when the dust settled, he noticed Nya standing in the doorway. Startled, Cole stepped back a few feet.

"Oh sorry, didn't mean to startle you." She apologized.

"Have you been standing there the whole time?" Cole asked, wiping some sweat from his forehead. Nya nodded slightly, looking at the floor. "I tried to call your name, but you didn't respond. It's like you didn't even hear me."

"Well, I was thinking. And training."

"Why are you training so hard?" Nya asked, looking at him. Cole didn't respond at first. He hoped that his shortness of breath would provide some kind of excuse for him not to answer her immediately. "I don't' really… know." He answered between breaths. Nya crossed her arms and leaned against the doorway.

"You really don't need to train any harder." She said, picking her words carefully. "You're in peak physical condition. I think lifting too much will do more harm than good."

Suddenly Nya had a weird sensation. She paused a moment. It was near the steps. She sensed something near the steps. Like she and Cole weren't the only ones here… She turned to look at the stairway. Empty.

"What is it?" asked Cole, staring at where she was staring. Nya looked back at him. "Nothing. It's just… I could tell something was off for a second, but it's nothing."

Cole nodded.

"Hey, how's Kai?"

"Oh, he's fine." Nya said casually. "You know how Kai can be sometimes." She laughed nervously. "He was just angry. That's all."

Cole was glad that his fellow ninja was doing okay; he made a mental note to follow up with him later.

"I should probably check in with the others about Kai." Nya looked up at Cole and smiled a bit sadly. She turned to leave, then looked back. He was staring at his weights. Slowly he began to put them back in their places. Nya turned and proceeded to swiftly ascend the steps.

* * *

Jay was in his room. Sitting. On the floor. He couldn't decide if he should be pacing or lying down or what. He couldn't believe what he had overheard. Nya talking to Cole? Nya? _his_ Nya? Normally he wouldn't be so freaked out about it—I mean, he and Nya weren't even officially dating yet or anything. It was just a crush. But in his mind Nya was _his_ Nya. And Nya talking to other guys was fine, but talking to Cole about him not having to train anymore? About Cole being in peak physical condition? Thoughts flooded his mind. His worst nightmare coming true: Nya thought Cole was strong. Strong _er_ than he, Jay, was. Jay panicked. That didn't necessarily mean that Nya liked Cole, right?

 _Pft, of course not, Jay. Don't be silly._ He assured himself. _There's no reason she would like him more than you… except for the fact that he can lift like a thousand pounds and fight six serpentine at once like it's no big problem._ Jay shook his head. Talking himself calm wasn't helping. He needed… He needed to train more. Yeah, that was it. Jay stood up. If he had Cole's super strength, he would melt Nya's heart in an instant and completely blow her away. Jay hit the ground and began doing push ups. As fast as he could do them. _32…33…34…_ he counted in his head. He rolled up and began throwing kicks and landing punches at his bed, at the chair, at the wall… anything.

The door opened and Nya stepped in, unaware of Jay's frenzied training.

"I kept knocking on the door and you weren't—" She was abruptly cut off by a loud, "Ninjaaaaaa-goooo!" as Jay turned into a swirling tornado of pulsing paused and looked on with wide, silent eyes, the blue light from the spinjitzu dancing on her pupils. After a moment, Jay stopped spinning and let himself come to a complete stop. He was breathing hard.

"Jay," said Nya quietly. Jay turned around. "Oh, uh, hi Nya. How's uh, it going?" At the sight of her beautiful face, Jay almost forgot that he was slightly mad at her.

"I just came by to say that I talked to Kai, and he's doing fine. He's been a little angry. I was on my way to tell Zane." Nya surveyed Jay's messy room with shoe marks on the walls.

 _Nothing about you not wanting me to train harder?_ Jay's thoughts yelled at her. _Am I in too peak- physical condition?_ But instead, all he said was, "Okay."

Nya walked out then popped her head back in. "Oh, and enjoy your training." She added.

Jay sighed.

As she walked down the hall, she couldn't help but wonder what it must feel like—for Cole and Jay and Kai and Zane—to know that no matter how much or how hard you train, you will still go to bed at the end of the day knowing that you're a ninja. And that nothing can change that.

* * *

Zane had gone up to the deck of Destiny's Bounty and was meditating. Trying to distract himself from his thoughts. _Breathe in, breathe out._ He tried to think about how much the success of this trip meant for the crew. Having the staffs aboard provided a great advantage to the team. _Breathe in, breathe out._ It didn't matter, necessarily, how the staffs were acquired. It was a team effort, and that's what counted.

 _Well was it?_ He heard a voice inside him say. Cole and Jay had fended off a large quantity of serpentine, and he had… Zane's shoulders drooped. _What had he done?_ Nothing much except try to come up with a plan and fail and end up having to be saved by Kai.

 _Breathe in, breathe out._

Kai had done most of the work. He had gotten them in there and came up with the idea to sneak in and get the staffs while the serpentine dealt with the mayhem they had created. Zane's calculations hadn't done any of that. Zane's statistics had nearly gotten him killed.

 _Breathe in, breathe out._

Zane needed to be more brash and daring like Kai. Only then could he be efficient instead of hiding behind his numbers and facts.

Suddenly Zane felt the urge to turn around. Nya had just reached the top of the stairs onto the deck. "Zane."

He waited, acknowledging her. "Well at least someone's paying attention." Nya muttered.

"I wanted to tell you that Kai's fine. He just burst out for some reason, but he's good now."

He thanked her. She nodded and walked down the stairs. Zane smiled. Finally Kai was going to be his old self again. When they met he would apologize for not thinking straight, and Zane would apologize for not being more alert in battle and everything would be back to normal. Zane took a deep breath and closed his eyes. _Breathe in, breathe out._

Nya's voice crackled to life over the intercom. "Guys, we have another mission for you. And this time, Pythor's back!"

Zane sprung up and ran down the stairs to the bridge.


	4. Things Don't Always Go As Planned

**Green With Envy**

 **The Forgotten Ninjago Episode**

Chapter Four: Things Don't Always Go As Planned

When the four ninja met in the screen-lined room, Zane tried to be friendly but as soon as he saw Kai's tight, thought-strewn face, he faltered. His old thoughts returned. Maybe he shouldn't be friendly. He should act tough and pretend that nothing had happened. Zane kept glancing at Kai, and Kai would occasionally steal glances at Lloyd sitting bored in a chair.

"Okay, Pythor and the other tribe leaders have returned. And we still don't really know what they're looking for…"

Jay craned his neck to watch Cole without him noticing, and Cole was subtly staring at Zane.

"…So if we extract the anti-venom for all four tribes from the staffs, then…"

Nya cleared her throat as she pointed to the screen. "Um, hello! I'm explaining the mission here!" The ninja snapped to attention.

"Yeah, sorry sis." Kai laughed a little nervously. "Pythor is back with the other tribes, and we have to go… uh, take the staffs?"

Nya shook her head.

"We already have the staffs. All you need to remember is that Pythor needs the staffs to make his next move. So whatever you do, make sure he _doesn't_ get the staffs back."

"Doesn't get them back, got it!" Cole repeated, pumping his fist in the air.

Nya walked over to a blanket on the floor beside the serpentine staffs. She whipped it off, revealing four large shuriken-like weapons. The ninja gasped in approval. "These spin blades will help you to open the fort-lock"

Cole started. The fort-lock? He hadn't been paying too much attention to the mission debrief, he realized. And now he was too afraid to ask anyone else what the fort-lock was. He reminded himself that he had to be smart like Zane and remember the logistics of the plan.

"Alright, I think that pretty much covers it. You guys are good to go." Nya was saying as she walked back. Cole scrambled in his mind. _Make sure Pythor_ doesn't _get the staffs back. All you need to remember is to make sure he_ doesn't _get the staffs back._ The ninjas shuffled around to grab their spin blades and golden weapons and head out the door. On the way out Nya stopped Jay.

She spoke softly:

"What is up with you guys? No one's really listening to me. I try to call your names, but you're too busy training. Like you ninja have nothing better to do... And the mission debrief-Don't even get me started on the debriefing."

Jay tried not to blush as he responded: "Guess we're all just, uh, thinking about the mission earlier today. It was kind of tiring." He scratched his head and looked up at Nya's face. Her eyes… they were so exquisite. He sighed contentedly. Nya's mouth squirmed into a confused kind of smirk.

"Well, uh, gotta go. Mission and everything." Jay said quickly, grabbing the pile of stuff left on the floor.

 _'Mission and everything'_ Nya mused as she turned back to find Lloyd messing around with the screen controls. _Doesn't he know how lucky he is to even_ have _a mission to go on? All I ever get to do is run errands and explain missions and babysit lousy Lloyd._

"Stop messing with the controls." Nya said, a little stricter than she meant it. Lloyd stopped grudgingly.

"'Kay, sorry."

he muttered as he slipped down from the chair to the wooden floor.

"Don't 'sorry' me!" Nya snapped. Lloyd froze a bit; Nya was never this uptight.

"Don't you have something better to do than man the bridge?" She suggested, annoyed. _Don't_ I _have something better to do than man the bridge?_

"Uh, I'll just go play some video games or something." Lloyd said falteringly as he turned and ran down the stairs.

 _Just this morning I felt like I was really appreciated._ He thought on the way down. _Like I was officially part of the team. And now,_ he hung his head. _Now I'm not so sure._

* * *

 _Make sure he doesn't get the staffs. Doesn't get the staffs. Doesn't get the staffs…_ Cole repeated the phrase over and over in his head. He wasn't going to forget this one. By golly, Cole was going to remember the plan as if his life depended on it.

"The serpentine fort is approaching." Zane noted.

"Everyone got their spin blades ready?" Kai asked. He could feel the shape of the gleaming metal on his back just waiting to be used. He couldn't wait to see what these babies could do.

"I've got mine."

Cole said over the walkie-talkie.

"I have mine as well," Zane affirmed.

"Yup, I got my—" Jay stopped mid-sentence. "Oh shoot."

"What is it?" Cole asked, alarmed. "Did you forget your spin blade?"

"No, I got it. But I brought something else too." Jay glanced at the blanket-covered pile of stuff by his seat in the cockpit. He could see sticking out from under the blanket the bottom of a golden staff.

"Shoot, shoot, darn, oh nut muffins." He said quickly under his breath. "Guys, I think I might have accidentally brought the serpentine staffs, too."

"Jay!" Kai exclaimed.

 _The staffs!_ Cole screamed inwardly. He knew they were a very important part of the mission. _Yeah, make sure that Pythor doesn't…Wait._ he had repeated this phrase so many times that it started to become nonsense in his head. _What was it again? Make sure Pythor does—Does get the staffs. Right? Yeah, that was it. Or something like that. Something about Pythor and the staffs._

"Well, don't we need the staffs?" Cole asked, his rocky vehicle zooming over the leafs of Wildwood Forest for the second time that day.

"Um, I'm pretty sure Nya said to make sure Pythor _didn't_ get the staffs." Jay said. "Which is just swell, 'cause now we're driving straight towards him with the staffs in tow!" He yelled.

"Well, I made it a very purposeful point to remember that Pythor actually did need the staffs." Cole interjected. "Nya made it very clear."

"I'm going back." Jay said. "We can't get any closer to Pythor with the staffs."

"No, wait!" Cole said hurriedly.

"We have to stick together." Kai interjected. "I don't know how you managed to screw this one up Jay—well, actually it's not that surprising—but I don't think we have any choice but to go onward."

"But Nya said—"

"This time we're going to have to impro—"

"Wait!" Cole cut Kai off. "Zane probably remembers what we were supposed to do with the staffs. So what should we do, Zane? Stick together or take back the staffs?"

Silence.

"Zane?" Jay asked. They looked around. The ice bike was nowhere to be seen. Cole and Kai shared a worried glance. The three accelerated over the rocks and leafs.

"Zane, where are you?" the speaker in Zane's vehicle cackled. The white ninja was ahead of everyone else, zooming dangerously fast through the woods. _Just go straight in without thinking too much_ , Zane was saying to himself. He ignored an oncoming ratio on his internal screen about the chances of him crashing into his surroundings. He skidded his vehicle to a stop, jumped out, and ran towards the locked fort gates with his golden shurikens in one hand and his spin blade in the other. As he began fighting the guards he noticed three others fighting alongside him.

"Dude, what were you thinking?" Kai asked Zane as he flipped over one of the guards and gashed his blade into the large locked iron gates blocking their way into the fort. Zane faltered. "I thought that you would have proceeded straight—"

"We have to stick together!" Kai said. Jay threw his spin blade into the fort-lock, and the blade spun straight into a slot. Cole followed suit, relieved that he could pretend like he had known what a fort-lock was the whole time.

"Okay, but about the staffs… Zane?" The black ninja started, giving Zane his cue to start forming a plan of attack. "Should we take them back or carry them with us?" Cole motioned to a large pack on his back.

"I can't remember." Zane said under his breath like he didn't want anyone to hear.

"What?! But Zane, you're the smart one! You're supposed to remember!" Jay exclaimed as the fort-lock moaned and started to swing open. The huge iron door of a lock opened part of the way then shuddered to a stop. Zane pushed through his friends and tried to squeeze through. "I can't fit!" He grunted. He took a few steps back to glance at the height of the wall. Too high to climb. But the door was too heavy to push open. "Wait, I got this!" Jay said cheerily as he ran to the small space between the door frame and the door. Straining his arm muscles, he tried to push the door open with all of his might. It wasn't budging. _I bet Cole could do it_ , a random thought said. Jay closed his eyes and concentrated. Cole wasn't going to do it; he was. He was strong, too. "Aargghhh!" grunted Jay as he tried to wedge the place open.

* * *

Lloyd paused in playing his video games. He had played for two hours straight and it was getting old. But he was too afraid to go upstairs. What if Nya snapped at him again? He shook his head. He was the green ninja. He could take whatever his friends said to him! He got up with confidence and was about to ascend the stairs when he noticed a framed picture on the ninja's nightstand. It was a picture of the whole crew. Sensei, Nya, Kai, Cole, Zane, and Jay. Each of them smiling. Completely happy without Lloyd around. Lloyd wavered. What if no one really wanted him around?

* * *

Cole was busy trying to remember the mission instructions and formulate a plan of what they should do with the staffs. For some reason, Zane couldn't remember it. But he could. He could do it. He was almost positive that Nya had said to make sure that Pythor _did_ get the staffs back. Making up his mind, he slung the staffs from his back and heaved them up over the wall. They landed behind the walls with a thunk. Everything suddenly went silent and still. The three ninja turned to Cole with a look of utter disbelief. Finally, serpentine cheering split the silence.

Kai practically exploded. He lunged at Cole and pinned him to the ground. "Woah!" Cole exclaimed.

"What did you _do_?" Kai said, anger pouring down him like a volcano.

"I can't exactly remember the plan, but I know that we were _definitely_ not supposed to do that." Zane said as he separated the red ninja from the black one. Jay slid down to the ground from pure exhaustion. He couldn't push anymore. His arms were aching, and the iron gate was pressing into his stomach from his position on the ground. Weakly he pulled himself up and wobbled over to the others. His hand was on his shoulder; it felt like searing fire, but hotter than Kai could ever produce. The noise of the serpentine grew louder and louder.

Kai abruptly turned around and started towards the fort. "If none of you guys can finish this mission, I'll do it myself."

Jay started muttering softly. "Stop it. Stop. No NO! EVERYONE JUST STOP IT!"

Kai stopped in his tracks and Cole and Zane looked to Jay. The master of lightning sighed and clutched his shoulder tighter. Suddenly Cole flipped in the air and transformed his golden scythe into a brown and black car and zoomed off, leaving the three in his dust. Kai was gone in a flash of red and gold. Jay slowly took out his nunchucks and was soon zooming off in his jet. Zane silently retreated into the woods. The four rushed through, not even caring about the mission anymore.


	5. Misunderstandings

This is the second to last chapter of this story; just a heads up that there will be one more update after this one. :)

 **Green With Envy**

 **The Forgotten Ninjago Episode**

Chapter Five: Misunderstandings

As soon as the homecoming heroes landed on _The Bounty_ , everyone was yelling.

"Cole, that was like, the dumbest idea ever! What were you possibly thinking of accomplishing by doing that?"

Jay yelled, pointing his finger at Cole.

"Me? What were _you_ trying to do, opening that huge iron door by yourself? I have super strength!" Cole jutted back. "And you!" he yelled at Kai. "Why did you have to ruin it by pretending you're some hero who can do everything himself?"

"Well, that's what you have to do when you're around a bunch of lousy ninjas who can't do anything except get into arguments! And hey, don't look at me, Zane was the one who started it by charging in by himself!" Zane laughed coldly.

"Says the ninja who compromised our last mission by doing the exact same thing!"

"Well at least that mission was a success!" Kai shouted. Suddenly the doors opened and Sensei Wu and Nya walked in.

The ninjas stopped arguing and bowed as soon as they saw Wu. He stepped towards the group. "Stop it! Do you hear yourselves? This is no way for ninja to behave." He walked forward a bit and sat down on a chair. "Now, let's sort this out starting from the bottom." Nya still felt angry from the afternoon and spit out "At least be grateful that you're ninja and not some behind-the-scenes errand-running, babysitting girl who nobody listens to! A girl who, no matter how hard she trains, will never be a true, accepted ninja!" She fought back tears.

Silence.

"Or get to go on a mission." came a voice. Nya looked back and let her eyes follow Lloyd's slow ascent to the deck of the ship.

"Oh Nya." The sound came softly as if escaping from Jay's mouth after being held back for days. "That's how you feel?"

Nya looked down at the floor. She wasn't going to cry. Not here. Not now.

Kai was startled from Lloyd's quiet utterance. The green ninja. The _green_ _ninja_ didn't feel accepted by the crew? Suddenly Kai felt ashamed by all the times he had treated Lloyd badly and the times he had tried to be the green ninja when he knew he wasn't him. Kai stepped forwards. He didn't look up at any one in particular but was staring at Lloyd's feet.

"I'm sorry." he said. Everyone was a bit taken aback. Kai looked up and stared straight at Lloyd. "I'm sorry for being jealous of Lloyd's powers and trying to be the green ninja when I knew I wasn't. I wanted to be the green ninja; I wanted all the power and the glory. But now I realize that being the green ninja isn't a one-man-show. It's about letting others support you to your greatest moments and catch you when you fall to your worst."

Zane felt his eyes sting. Kai was apologizing! His old buddy was back to normal. He knew what he had to do.

"And I apologize for being jealous of Kai's daring bravery and neglecting my duty as the rightful nindroid of this team." Zane smiled and put his hand on Kai's shoulder. Kai looked at him and smiled weakly. "I'm sorry for saying all those mean things to you about how your statistics distract you." Kai's smile widened. "I like the good ol' Zane who will spit out numbers and plans and facts and keep his head cool in tough situations. I like Zane best when he's Zane. And not trying to be someone else."

Sensei stroked his beard in approval, his eyes closed.

"And I guess I haven't been myself lately either," Cole admitted, toying a loose floor board with his toes. "I felt like I had to be smarter. Like I had to be the 'smart one' of the group. And that caused me to completely butcher up our mission. And I realize now that my role is being Cole: The strong ninja who doesn't know everything, and that's fine with me."

Zane turned to Cole slowly. "I did not realize that you felt like you had to be more intelligent. I apologize for any misunderstandings I have caused." He looked at Cole's downturned face. "And I want to say that no matter how many times you might 'butcher up' a mission, you will always be our brother." Cole nodded and looked up at Zane.

Throughout all of this, Jay still hadn't moved his hand from his shoulder. After Cole's and Zane's apologies there was a big silence. Jay stood looking at the floor.

"Look, all I wanted was to be strong." He didn't move, but his voice was loud and clear. "Strong like Cole. I was so afraid that Cole was trying to…" Jay looked up at Nya's face. She was staring cooly at him, waiting for him to go on. "Was trying to… impress you and maybe try to steal you from me." Nya blushed and looked down. And maybe Jay was blushing too. He would talk to Nya later about this, since he just kind of admitted that he was interested in her. "I'm sorry for not letting Cole do his own job on the mission. He's a lot better at opening doors than I am." Cole chuckled a little.

"Hey dude, I'm sorry for making you feel like I was stealing Nya from you. No worries there, though, it's all good. I wasn't trying to impress her or anything. My head was just clogged up with thoughts that I probably shouldn't have been thinking." Kai nodded slightly. He could definitely relate to that last bit.

"And Nya, I knew that you were upset about no one listening to you, but I didn't know you were _that_ worked up about it. I'm sorry for not paying better attention." All of the ninjas nodded in unison. "Nya, we weren't really paying attention to you during the debrief. But now we all know the consequences when your mission status isn't there to guide us. And coming back to check on me after that time I kind of exploded," Kai smiled a little, "That was really kind of you."

Cole added thoughtfully: "We've really taken you for granted Nya, and we're lucky to have left the mission with our lives."

There was a silence.

"I-I-" Nya started, trying to formulate exactly what she was feeling. "I wanted to say, Jay," she paused. Jay snapped his head up and looked her in the eye. "I was really envying you being a ninja because you have something that I've trained a lot for, and I know that I'm not ready yet, but I was getting…impatient." She turned to Lloyd. "And I'm sorry for snapping at you in the bridge, little guy. I was just feeling frustrated and I vented my feelings in a way I shouldn't have." Lloyd lifted his eyes to her face. "I forgive you. And I'm sorry to all of you for not realizing that I'm already a part of the team and that you guys actually do care for me." Nya laughed a little and hugged the boy.

"Of course we care for you." Kai stepped forwards. "We're sorry for not showing it better." Everyone nodded their heads. Sensei Wu still had his eyes closed like he was soaking up their apologies into his innermost being.

 _And this is why I chose these specific students._ He knew they were all capable of great physical feats but also of great healing.

"And this, we see, is what happens when we are discontent with our abilities and who we are," The wise man spoke with his eyes still closed.

"Misunderstandings, hurt, anger, jealousy, envy. We try to be people we aren't; we try to fulfill roles that are not ours to fill. When we live in discord and envy, friends are hurt. Calamity ensues. Family torn apart from the inside out." Sensei's eyes flew open and brought his staff heavily to the floor with a loud _thump_. Then, he let his staff slide out of his fingers onto the ground.

"But," he added, picking his staff back up and balancing it on the edge of his finger, "When we live together in harmony, content with our abilities and who we are, balancing out each others' strengths and weaknesses, we live a life full of happiness and success. And each of you must answer this question today: _Who are you?_

We cannot live as we are meant to live unless we know who we were meant to be." Sensei stood up and walked to the four ninja.

"Each of you has reached your true potentials and gained precious insight. This knowledge will aid you to answer this question." Sensei walked back to his spot, stroking his beard. "And I'm afraid that some spend their entire lives trying to discover who they are." He paused in his tracks. "I myself still struggle to answer this question every day, but that shouldn't keep you six from trying." Lloyd's and Nya's heads jerked up.

"Don't think that you two will never reach your true potentials." Sensei said as he pointed his staff at each of them in turn.

"You mean, I'm going to reach my true potential someday?" Lloyd asked, his eyes full of wonder. Nya's heart echoed the same question. All of her being screamed that question.

Sensei looked at both of them with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Nya's mind and heart raced. She was going to be a ninja. Someday. She could feel it. But until then… who was she? What did she want?


	6. The Beginning of Something New

Here is the last installment of Green With Envy. I am currently working on another Ninjago fan fiction, so keep your eyes open for that and hopefully, I'll publish more content in the near future :) And thanks to everyone who reviews and reads these stories. Catch you guys later!

 **Green With Envy**

 **The Forgotten Ninjago Episode**

Chapter Six: The Beginning of Something New

A few days had passed since all of the commotion about jealousy and identity confusion. Although the ninja team had never been able to retrieve the anti venom from the staffs and were now behind in the race to discover what Pythor was plotting, they accepted the new situation as it was and moved on. Yet every day Nya asked herself, _Who am I? What do I want?_ The others had grown adjusted to being themselves with their own strengths and weaknesses. In actuality, Nya figured, the whole experience was probably better for all of them in the end. The four ninja had learned more about working together and could now joke about each other's abilities and powers without feeling self-conscious or confused about their own. Lloyd was in a better mood most of the time, but he still moped when Sensei wouldn't allow him to go on missions. And whenever he ventured into the ninja's room, he admired the newly framed photo resting on the nightstand featuring the _entire_ crew. Lloyd included. All smiling and having a great time with each other. And for a few days Nya was happy to be the mission-debriefer and errand-runner. But this particular day after asking herself _Who am I? What do I want?_ She felt like her time for only being the mission-debriefer and babysitter had ended. Not that she was discontent with maning the bridge; she just knew that this wasn't all she was ever going to be. Time had come for something different.

Nya was explaining all of this to Sensei over tea one day while Lloyd was playing video games and the ninja were on a mission. Sensei sat back in his chair and sipped his tea. "Nya, I think what you need to be asking yourself is _Who do I want to be?_ " Nya responded immediately, "A ninja. I want to be a ninja." Sensei took another sip. "There are many doors in life, and when one door closes another opens."

There was a split second of a silence.

Nya was confused. She looked down at the warm green liquid in her cup.

 _What doors?_

"Please, Sensei. I'll train. I'll do anything." Sensei set his cup down on the table. "Nya you're not ready yet. You cannot be a ninja now. That door is closed." Nya was crestfallen. She was very sure that she wanted to be a ninja. "But don't let that discourage you from being who you want to be." Sensei finished the last of his tea, stood up, and walked away.

Confusion stretched from ear to ear in her mind. Sometimes when you went to Sensei asking for advice, you only left more confused about life than you were before. She had questions. She thought she had had the answers. Well, okay. Being a ninja was out of the question right now. _But don't let that discourage you from being who you want to be,_ he had said. She wanted to be a ninja! She stopped for a moment. Well, why did she want to be a ninja? What did she want from being a ninja? She sipped her tea. She admired everything that the ninja stood for. Bravery, peace, knowledge, protection, safety, equality, justice. She wanted to help people. She wanted to be accepted. She wanted to feel accepted by the boy's club. She wanted to protect and fight for others. And all of that came with being a ninja. But she couldn't be one! She slammed her cup down on the table in frustration. _That door is closed,_ Wu had said. Well, what was that other thing he said about doors? When one door closes, another opens? But where was the open door?

Who did she want to be?

Nya refused to believe that she was only a mission-debriefer and an errand-runner and a babysitter. Sure, she could be that, but she wasn't _only_ that. What did she want? She wanted to help people. She wanted to fight for them, protect them. _When one door closes, another opens._

Suddenly it clicked in her head. She stood up, nearly knocking the table over. She could stand for everything the ninja stood for. She could open the door. She could be all that she wanted to be. And she could do it all without being a ninja.

The door opened suddenly and Jay walked in. "I was knocking on the door and you weren't saying anything, so…" Then worriedly, "Nya, are you okay?"

Nya turned around. "Huh? Oh, I'm fine. Sorry. I was just thinking."

Jay smirked. "I could tell."

"Uh, Jay?"

Nya asked, blueprints forming in her head at a hundred miles an hour.

"Yeah?"

"Could I borrow some scrap metal?"

'Why?"

"Oh, I just want to build something."

 _Something new._ She thought. _Something that's going to help a lot of people. Including me._

The End


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